Alexander Samsonov

Alexander Samsonov (14 November 1859-30 August 1914) was a general of the Russian Empire who led the Russian 2nd Army during the early stages of World War I. He was defeated at the Battle of Tannenberg in August 1914, and he committed suicide as a result of his defeat.

Biography
Alexander Samsonov was born on 14 November 1859 in Andreevka, Kherson Governorate, Russian Empire (present-day Ukraine), and he graduated from the Nikolaev Cavalry School, becoming a cornet (second lieutenant) in the Russian 12th Hussars Regiment. In 1877 he fought in the Russo-Turkish War, and in 1890 he commanded a cavalry unit during the Boxer Rebellion against China. He proceeded to lead the Ussuri Siberian Cossack Division in the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905, and he became known as an energetic leader, but he began a lifelong rivalry with Paul von Rennenkampf after blaming him for his failure to assist him at the 1905 Battle of Mukden. In 1906, Samsonov was made Chief-of-Staff of the Warsaw Military District and in 1909 served as the leader of the Turkestan Military District and as Governor of Russian Turkestan.

At the start of World War I in 1914, Samsonov was appointed as the commander of the Russian 2nd Army, and along with Rennenkampf he invaded East Prussia, a region of the German Empire. On 29 August 1914 he fought the Germans at the Battle of Tannenberg, with Rennenkampf as his subordinate. On 30 August he shot himself in the head with a revolver, unable to explain his defeat to Czar Nicholas II of Russia. His body was returned to his wife by the International Red Cross.